This month is all about the anticipation before the floral fireworks of June, with an abundance of fresh foliage providing a lush, green backdrop to set off jewel-like alliums and bountiful peonies. Foxgloves stretch upwards and geraniums mound up, full of promise. Savour and enjoy this magical time in the garden, watching every bud unfold.
Geums are useful plants at this time of year, offering a colour wash background in hues of orange, yellow and cream for alliums and late tulips, and will flower on for weeks over the summer. Some cultivars, such as ‘Totally Tangerine’, continue all summer if you deadhead them regularly. They’re perfect for growing alongside a host of other perennials, from salvias to honesty. I grow several types: zingy ‘Prinses Juliana’ in the gravel garden, ‘Totally Tangerine’ in the back border, as well as the lower-growing ‘Bell Bank’, which has smaller nodding flowers in dusky rose pink.
Peonies are, of course, the queens of the May garden. I have only two plants – the pale pink ‘Sweet Harmony’ and the darker magenta ‘Karl Rosenfield’ – but they are beauties and produce prize blooms that I can hardly bring myself to cut.
Plants that will bring your garden to life in May
If you want to enjoy beautiful colour in your garden next May, this is what to consider planting in autumn or early spring.
A deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub that grows to 3 metres, this beautiful hybrid of the Carolina allspice will produce large, fragrant flowers in a first flush from May, and then intermittently all through the summer. Almost magnolia-like, the creamy-white blooms are tinged with maroon in the centre, set against glossy green leaves. Grow in a sheltered spot in well-drained but moist soil, in sun or partial shade.
A robust perennial hybrid, the strawberry foxglove has spikes of antique rose flowers with a hint of copper. Reaching 75cm, it prefers dappled shade and is more perennial if divided after flowering. It can also self-seed and will come true from seed.
Pink and white foxgloves, mauve alliums and orange Erysimum ‘Apricot Twist’ provide intense colour in Jasper Conran’s flower garden.
Andrew Montgomery
This pretty alpine clematis is smothered with elegant, nodding lavender-purple flowers in late spring. First introduced in 1900, it is a tough and easy-to-grow plant that will bloom reliably each year. Unlike some other clematis, it does not need pruning. Grow it up a trellis or through a small tree in fertile, well-drained soil.
With delicate apricot flowers, this geum has been a favourite at RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the past few years. Growing to 30cm, its semi-double blooms are pretty and ruffled, held on wiry, dark stems above the foliage and maturing from pink to peach as they age. The plant is best grown in full sun in a moisture-retentive soil.
Comments are closed.